"A big loss": TNT pundit warns of damage to British cycling as Tour de France moves behind paywall in the UK

With the Tour de France now exclusively behind a paywall in the UK for the first time since the 1980s, TNT Sports pundit Brian Smith has warned that the sport risks alienating the general public just as the country prepares to host the Grand Départ in 2027.

The 2025 Tour de France marked the end of an era in the UK, serving as the final edition broadcast on ITV before a new exclusive rights deal with Warner Bros Discovery took full effect. The deal, which runs until at least 2030, places the world's biggest bike race behind a subscription barrier on TNT Sports, costing fans approximately £31 a month.

Speaking to road.cc, the former British champion described the end of free-to-air coverage on ITV as a "big loss" that could stunt the growth of the sport's audience.

"I think a lot of people, the general public, watch the Tour de France on ITV and terrestrial TV," Smith said. "To take it away from them, I think it’s losing a lot of fans... But I do think it’s a big loss not having ITV. That’s how I got into watching cycling."

Smith argues that while hardcore cycling fans will pay for the comprehensive coverage provided by Warner Bros Discovery, the sport relies on terrestrial television to capture the imagination of the wider public - the "Joe Public" who stumbles upon the race by chance.

"People I know who aren’t cycling fans will tell me they’ve watched the Tour de France... And we’re not going to have that anymore," Smith explained. "For Joe Public, it’s a shame to lose these guys, because they’re not going to pay, so how are they going to find out about the Tour de France?"

He pointed to the legacy of previous free-to-air coverage, which helped launch the careers of some stars into the mainstream consciousness following the Olympics. "I know of some cyclists who are cyclists because they watched it on ITV, they saw it, and they saw the British riders. Nobody really knew who Mark Cavendish or Bradley Wiggins were until the Olympics and now they all know about it."

The move to pay-TV comes at a paradoxical moment for British cycling. The UK is set to host a historic double Grand Départ in 2027, with both the men's and women's races beginning on British soil. The men's race will start in Edinburgh, a massive opportunity for Scottish cycling that Smith fears might be squandered if locals can't watch their home heroes on TV.

"Look at Scotland now, Scotland has someone that’s a contender [Oscar Onley]," Smith said. "And there are a lot of Scottish people out there that have really no interest in cycling, but will think, ‘oh, this Scot is in this race in France, I’m going to watch it’. But how are they going to watch it? They’re not going to pay to watch it."

"I can see both sides, of course. That paywall pays for a lot of things... But I can totally understand [the disappointment of] losing the ITV coverage... We need that platform, we need that kind of general person that sits there and it might be the only race they watch all year," he concluded.